Life

As every year, the Ironman Canarias Lanzarote Triathlon attracts relevant athletes, not only among the pros or elite athletes, but also other athletes who really are worth a closer look. We would like to introduce you to Ricardo pérez amado, from ONCE (national spanish blind association).

This athlete from Madrid, born on 28 August 1970, is not 100 % blind but he suffers an important visual loss. Some years ago, we were proud to have the Australian Ched Towns in our race, but it is the first time we have a Spanish athlete of similar characteristics. Ricardo's situation though is slightly different because he is still capable of racing on his own, or at least, he hopes to be able to do this. Therefore, he will swim, bike and run alone.

Ricardo suffers from Retinosis Pigmentaria (Usher II Syndrome), which also includes a hearing deficiency (in his case 50%) that does not change, whereas to his vision, he has lost the photoreceptive cells (the ones that grasp the light), which means that he is blind at night and loses the vision angles progressively (nowadays he has less than 10º vision - compared to 180º which is standard vision).

Ricardo has been doing a lot of sports including skiing and mountain climbing on the Spanish Mainland, in the Alps (Mont Blanc, Monte Rosa, Cervino) and in Peru (Diablo Mudo and Misti).Because of the progressive loss of his vision, many things he has been able to do in the past will not be possible anymore in the future. We all will be looking out for his - hopefully successful experience at our Ironman Canarias Lanzarote Triathlon next 17 May 2003.Originally posted to ironmanlive.com on 03/26/2003 03:18pm by IM Lanzarote.